Why Sky Mobile is a great choice for the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus

Chris Barraclough

6 months ago

Considering picking up Apple’s shiny new iPhone 8 or 8 Plus on contract here in the UK? Sky Mobile’s tariffs are among the best, with a nice and simple pricing structure as well as some nifty benefits such as data rollover. Here’s all you need to know.

Apple has just refreshed its iPhone handsets for 2017, with three new devices to choose from. The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus are available right now from UK providers, while the super-premium (and mega-expensive) iPhone X won’t be hitting stores until November at the earliest.

While the tenth anniversary special edition model boasts a seriously evolved design, the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus are a straightforward upgrade over last year’s iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. If you’re after the usual super-slick performance and excellent camera experience, wrapped in a shiny new glass body, then these Apple blowers won’t disappoint.

Of course, there’s a lot of choice when it comes to picking up these new mobiles on contract. Not just that, but most providers seem to offer about two or three dozen contract options, not to mention the usual selection of model, colour and the rest. All of which can make choosing a tariff seriously stressful.

Thankfully Sky Mobile’s offering is much more simple, complete with some nifty benefits that are well worth knowing about. Here’s how the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus contract details break down through this UK provider.

What do I need to choose when picking my iPhone 8 or iPhone 8 Plus contract from Sky Mobile?

You’ll need to make a few decisions before you commit to an iPhone contract. These are:

Which model do I want?

You might think at a casual glance that the Plus model of iPhone is simply larger than the standard version, delivering a bigger display for media viewing. However, the specs are quite different between the two handsets too. For instance, the iPhone 8 Plus boasts a superior dual lens camera compared with the single lens snapper of the iPhone 8, while the bigger device also offers up a large capacity battery.

You’ll also need to pick a colour, from silver, gold and space grey. This has no impact on the pricing, however. It’s just down to personal preference.

How much storage do I need?

You get two choices from Apple when it comes to storage, regardless of which iPhone model you go for. The base version of each handset offers up 64GB of space for your apps, media and the rest, while you can upgrade to 256GB for a little extra each month.

64GB is of course plenty of space for most people, especially as your camera photos are now stored in a highly efficient HEIF format. You’d have to record quite a lot of video and carry around lots of movies to fill that any time soon. Still, if you’re planning on downloading non-stop and shooting frequent home movies – and money isn’t a thing – the higher model is always an option.

Do I want to upgrade my iPhone in 12 months or 24?

With Sky Mobile you get a choice of Swap12 or Swap24 when signing up for an iPhone contract. This determines whether you’re able to replace your handset with a new device after 12 months or 24 months.

Frankly if you’re stumping up for the iPhone 8 or 8 Plus, we doubt you’ll be clamouring to swap it out in just a year’s time. Performance will still be silky smooth thanks to that powerful A11 Bionic chipset, while you’ll get full updates from Apple to iOS 12 come September 2018.

How much data do I need?

Once you’ve locked down your hardware, you just need to figure out how much data you’re going to eat up every month. There are four options on Sky Mobile: 500MB, 1GB, 5GB or 10GB. Each option comes with unlimited calls and texts.

iPhone 8 pricing structure from Sky Mobile

The following table shows how much you can expect to pay for the 64GB iPhone 8 per month from Sky Mobile. Note that any customers not using Sky TV will also have to pay £10 per month for unlimited calls and texts, or else pay as you go (a flat rate of 10p per minute or text).

Swap option

Data per month

Monthly cost

Swap24

500MB

£32 (£0 upfront)

1GB

£37 (£0 upfront)

5GB

£42 (£0 upfront)

10GB

£47 (£0 upfront)

Swap12

500MB

£37 (£99 upfront)

1GB

£42 (£99 upfront)

5GB

£47 (£99 upfront)

10GB

£52 (£99 upfront)

The following table shows how much you can expect to pay for the 256GB iPhone 8 per month from Sky Mobile.

What benefits do I get if I buy the iPhone 8 or 8 Plus from Sky Mobile?

One of the biggest benefits of Sky Mobile is that you can swap your data allowance at any time during your contract. Therefore if you decide that you need more or less data, you can just contact Sky and jump to a different tariff.

You can also rollover any data that you’re left with at the end of the month, into your Sky Piggybank. So while on many other networks you’d simply lose any unused data when your allowance is reset, Sky allows you to store up and use those precious GB when needed.

Sky TV customers can also receive some special benefits, including unlimited minutes and texts each month.